Curing Insanity
by 2Late
Summary: She was the knight in shining armor and he was the...damsel in distress? SasuHina. Rated M for mature content. I do not own Naruto.
1. A new job

She hated this job.

Her sigh was the only sound in the clean, scarcely furnished room. It was dark. Her bright eyes glimpsed outside a relatively small window, watching the trees bow to the wind with a few leaves already blowing through the air.

With an unexpectedly loud snapping sound she pulled the rubber gloves off her hands, wondering why she had to wear them.

After all, she wasn't working with people who were sick in _that _way. There was no doubt that the people in here were ill, but Hinata didn't really have to worry about catching diseases from the patients.

Hidden deep within the forest near the borders of Konoha was a rather huge building with clean white walls. Light flooded outside through the windows and when you first looked at it, nothing seemed to justify that many people tried to avoid it as best as possible. Nothing except for the barbed wire fence that encircled the building and a beautiful green area with neatly manicured grass that didn't look, as though many people had ever set foot on it.

This was Konoha's asylum, a place any respectable ninja would never enter.

But she, Hinata Hyuuga, only 16 years old, had been told often enough that she wasn't a respectable ninja by many people, mostly her own father.

Hiashi Hyuuga hadn't liked his daughter's decision to stop working as a chuunin and to become a medic instead. Hyuugas were fighters, they weren't the people who watched the fight and patched up the wounded after the action was over. Without granting her another chance to try to improve in order to become worthy of being heir, he had simply disowned her, making her little sister Hanabi the heir of the Hyuuga clan.

To Hinata, it was the last connection she had had with her family and it was now more than obvious that she was the outcast in the family. The branch members still called her "Hinata-sama" honorfully, though she knew (thanks to the byakugan) that they threw derisive looks her way when they thought that she wasn't looking, and that they spat on the floor once she had passed them by.

It hurt. She didn't know why she had still been foolish enough to believe that her family would some day accept her, but realizing that nothing she did would ever gain her her family's acknowledgment was still a shock. One she had to bear alone, because all of her friends seemed to have better things to do than to tend to the insignificant girl whose eyes got duller and duller after she cried herself to sleep every night.

It was the next shock for her to realize, that all her friend didn't seem to care about her at all. And maybe she had always known it and secretly hoped that she was wrong, but all of a sudden she was completely alone with no one in the world to help her.

From that point on, things only went down the drain.

One day her father told her that he had gotten her a job, after she came home after another pointless training session. And she could already tell from the smirk that split his scowling face that he had come up with something very cruel.

And that was pretty much how she ended up here, in the loony bin. Fortunately not as a patient (she could have imagined her father locking her in here just to get rid of her) but as an employee.

Although she didn't know if being a patient in here wouldn't have been a lot better than working here as a nurse, constantly being yelled at (by doctors who were too lazy to make themselves a damn cup of coffee) being almost strangled (by some of the patient who still believed they were in a S-rank mission) or getting looked at as if she was something to eat (by someone who insisted that he was a lion and refused to take off his anbu mask).

Most of the patients were (ex) ninja who had seen too much during missions and hadn't been able to take it. As she was merely the person who made beds, pulled a food trolley behind her and cleaned off blood stains after another suicide attempt, she didn't really have any contact with the patients, so she couldn't really know how they had ended up in here. That was the work of the psychologists, who weren't as empathic and nice as they should have been in order to really help their patients. All they really did was shut them up with pills so they wouldn't have to deal with them.

Hinata, who had been appalled by their behavior at first, had quickly gotten used to the harsh treatment everyone received, including her.

To Hinata, who had been brought up in a very strict manner and would have been grounded if she ever forgot to say "Please" and "Thank you", it was quite uncommon that whenever she did what she was told to do, all she received was another order barked at her face.

She had also had to get used to the rough tone that prevailed in here. The psychologists, though probably reasonably intelligent and educated, did not refrain from calling the patients "nut cases" or "maniacs", which she couldn't really understand, because to some degree she could empathize even with patients who tried to kill her whenever she entered the room. They had been through a lot, so it wasn't really their fault, right?

"Hyuuga, get over here!" She looked up abruptly, not having heard the man with the white lab coat enter.

"H-Hai." she stammered and walked towards the small stripe of light that shone into the room from the bright hallway. She blushed a little when she realized, that it must have seemed as if she had been hiding.

"We have a new patient. Get a fresh bed to room 23." She nodded and walked passed him, blinking a few times as her eyes grew accustomed to the light again.

She walked down the hallway slowly, heading for a room with a "authorized personnel only" sign on the door, as she heard someone scream in the distance.

The door creaked lowly when she opened it, moving into the dark room where she met two other nurses who had been quietly talking to each other. When they spotted her, they immediately stopped talking, which made Hinata wonder if they had been talking about her. When she left the room again, shoving a mobile bed outside, she heard them continue to whisper and she swore she heard one of them say "creepy eyes" with disgust.

She swallowed, hoping that she was only being paranoid. Since she had absolutely no self-esteem she felt as if everyone she passed by was looking at her with contempt, talking about how useless she was. It was probably a rather stupid thought.

She took out a bundle of keys and unlocked the door, which didn't look as heavy as it truly was (after all, most patients were capable ninja).

The opposite wall was one huge window with a small glass door that led onto a balconywhich overlooked the treetops. However, somewhere in the distance, one could see the high fences that immediately gave away that you weren't as free as the great view fooled you to believe. The door to the balcony was locked.

Having done her job, she left the room again, quickly slipping into a random open door when she could hear footsteps approach.

"Let me go! Let me go!! I'm not crazy!!!" It wasn't hard to assume that the voice belonged to the patient, who was definitely male and probably around her age, probably a bit older. She inwardly cringed. Someone so young coming here was very tragic.

"Shut up!" one of the doctors yelled. The unmistakable sound of a punch ripped through the air. Someone gasped the word "Fuck." and she could hear the patient struggle some more, shouting various obscenities, before the sound of a door being slammed shut and locked echoed through the hall.

A minute later the door was pushed open and she backed away quickly. She hadn't even realized that she had taken refuge in one of the doctor's offices.

With a soft 'click' the light was switched on and three men stood in the door, looking at her sceptically.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" one of them asked, holding his bleeding nose. For a short moment Hinata felt the insane urge to laugh at him loudly for being punched, but she knew that that would only have caused her trouble, so she decided to gloat silently. _Serves you right!!_

"I-I'm sorry. I d-didn't want to be i-in the way, s-so—"

"Yeah, whatever. Get out of here. You're not paid to sit on your ass. Go tell the new guy what awaits him in here." She nodded and left quickly without casting them another glance.

The door fell shut behind her. She leaned against the wall, sighing and rubbing her itching eyes. It was so late already. She just hoped her shift would end soon, so that she could crawl under her bedsheets and hide until the next morning.

Knowing that postponing her first meeting with the new patient wasn't going to save her from meeting him, she took slow steps towards the room, hoping that it wasn't another violent man who tried to hit her for no reason. Some of the patients were aggressive and they were her least favorite cases.

All too soon she reached the door, pressing her right ear against it, in order to determine whether the man inside had calmed down yet. She was too tired to try to wrestle with a disgruntled young man right now.

When she couldn't seem to hear anything suspicious (except for the same shrill screaming from somewhere upstairs where the women were kept) she dared to unlock the door, opening it slowly.

The room was completely dark, since the sun had set hours ago. And she couldn't seem to find anyone.

Slowly, she pushed the door open a little more, still fearing that she was going to be overrun by someone who was eager to get out of here as fast as possible. Nothing happened however.

Finally, she dared to slip into the room, closing the door behind her quietly, as if afraid of breaking the silence. As if she could somehow wake a monster that slept in here.

She walked a few steps forward blindly, her hand reaching out to find the light switch, though she couldn't seem to find it.

"H-Hello?" she asked into the deathly silence, feeling anxious. Her heart was thumping violently in her chest, and she blushed at her own childish fear of darkness.

She decided to walk further into the room, crossing it with unsure steps, until her eyes focused on something that seemed to be even darker than the room.

Her heart skipped a beat when her knees hit the bed and she realized that she was staring into a pair of black eyes.


	2. Encounter

She almost screamed. Her mouth opened but no sound left her lips.

The pair of dark eyes roamed over her face, she could practically feel the other person's gaze on her skin.

And then, he spoke, his breath fanning over her face, making her aware of the sweat that dampened her forehead.

"Hyuuga." She almost fell over her feet when she stumbled backwards.

Shivers ran down her spine uncontrollably, her heart was racing, and she felt slightly nauseous from fear.

She _knew _that voice. She knew that she had heard it somewhere at least, but she couldn't remember who it belonged to.

Slowly, her brain started to work properly again.

Someone with dark eyes. _Lee? _No, his voice was a lot higher. (Not that he didn't belong in such an institution.)

She thought about her former classmates from the academy and an image of Uzumaki Naruto immediately consumed her mind, making her throat tighten, as her eyes began to burn. She had decided to give up on the blond because she had finally accepted that she had no chance of ever becoming something more to him than an acquaintance.

She suppressed the waves of sadness that threatened to hit her. Pushing down the image of the confident blond, another image flashed before her eyes. That of Naruto's best friend, that of—

"U-Uchiha-san?" she asked, gulping down the lump that had formed in her throat.

Slowly, her eyes got used to the darkness, so that she could make out his outlines.

He sat on the bed, his knees drawn up to his chest. And he was— _shivering_.

"A-Are you c-c-cold?" she asked, though she had known the answer even before he shook his head.

Because he _wasn't _cold.

He was trembling with anger and hatred.

Upon realizing that, Hinata felt even more like running away and never returning.

Her breathing grew shallow, her heart sped up, reminding her of the fact that she was alive, and that she didn't want that to change any time soon. Even though her life wasn't perfect, she hadn't lost all hope just yet.

"I-I-" she couldn't even say one word properly. The small part of her that wasn't scared shitless was embarrassed, but the main part of her was terribly aware of the fact that she was looking into the eyes of someone who could kill her within less than a second, without her ever realizing that she was taking her last breath.

"You're scared of me." He stated bluntly, sounding cruelly amused. His eyes flashed red for a second, and the only reason Hinata didn't run away (other than the fact that she couldn't feel her legs anymore), were the black seals all over his body, which made sure that he wouldn't be able to attack anyone.

Sweat trickled down her temple nevertheless.

The dangerous, cruel aura that surrounded him was beyond anything she had ever felt before.

She gasped when he appeared in front of her all of a sudden. He was _fast_.

Remorseless, dark eyes narrowed as he looked down at her, coming closer slowly. The intent to kill was so clearly in his eyes, that she really felt, as though she was looking death in the eyes.

"P-Please-" Tears ran down her face, without her even realizing that she had begun to cry. "-d-don't k-k-kill me."

She could imagine that he was brightly grinning down at her now, delighted by her fear, showing the fangs that revealed what he really was: a _demon_.

Her back hit the wall, there was a soft clicking sound and a second later, warm light flooded the room.

He wasn't grinning, she had to realize. He wasn't even smirking.

His expression was empty, unmoved and unmovable, as if his face had been carved from marble.

Dark eyes closed briefly as the light temporarily blinded him.

He was still intimidating, but not nearly as scary as he had seemed before, when it had still been dark.

Her fear slowly ebbed away, though it refused to leave her completely. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed of her exaggerated reaction. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand, as discreetly as possible.

How should he have killed her? By asphyxiating her? A small part within her laughed at her own stupidity. She had let fear overwhelm her. He couldn't use chakra, meaning that he couldn't activate his sharingan or try to electrocute her with chidori.

He probably hadn't even _contemplated _killing her. She wasn't worth the effort.

"Wh-What are y-you doing he-here?"

His angry, hateful eyes immediately punished her for daring to ask him a question.

"Isn't it obvious?" he countered her question with one of his own. He absently rubbed his right wrist, where his skin was flushed and sore from being handcuffed for too long.

"I'm s-sorry, but I-I d-don't quite understand wh-what you mean." No matter how polite she was, she couldn't seem to placate him. She felt anger bubble up inside of her, though she quickly repressed it.  
"You're pathetic."

"H-Huh?" Her eyes widened slightly and she didn't like the familiar clenching pain in her chest at all.

"You and I both know that you almost wet your panties a couple of seconds ago. Why don't you just run away? I know that that's what you've been wanting to do ever since you entered this room."

She gazed at the floor, her eyes watering another time.

He was— a jerk. No, more than that. He was an obnoxious bastard. And unfortunately he was _right_.

She bit her lip, unhappy about the fact that he had read her so easily, even though she always tried to hide her insecurities and her fear of other people as best as possible.

"I-I'm s-sorry." She blurted out before turning on her heels and leaving.

It was only after she had reached her home and had hidden in her room, locking the door and double checking if the windows were closed firmly, that she felt save again.

But she should have known that locked doors and closed windows wouldn't keep Uchiha Sasuke out of her thoughts.

That night, his eyes haunted her dreams, turning them into nightmares.

* * *

**Btw, I've decided to change this story completely, because the old one seriously sucked! There was no plot, horrible grammar, wrong vocabulary...and did I mention how horribly OOC the characters were? I'm basically writing a completely new story and only the circumstances under which Sasuke and Hinata meet are the same. I hope this story will be better than the last. I'm probably even going to change the name. (Sorry RobotKhamScott, I'm way too ashamed of the old story to put it on here again.)**

**Well, please read & review. Please tell me about mistakes because English isn't my native language and I want to improve. (My comma placement is horrible...I can't even get it right in German. Of course I _could_ try to learn the rules for that, but I'm way, waaay to lazy (: )**

**xoxo, 2Late**


	3. Predator

_I can't go back there._

That was the only thought on her mind after waking up bathed in her own sweat, feeling more exhausted and tired than yesterday evening, when she had practically fallen into her bed.

After rubbing her sore neck and shoulders, she managed to get up and walk down the hall into the bathroom.

Observing her disheveled appearance, she took note of her unhealthily pale face. She was always pale, but her face hadn't been this colorless ever since she had last had the stomach flu.

The dark dashes beneath her eyes only emphasized the paleness of her skin and gave away that she hadn't slept well.

Not even the hot shower she took a couple of minutes later could make her complexion look healthier.

She didn't really feel hungry at breakfast, staring down at her untouched food.

Even though her heart wasn't racing anymore, and the cold sweat had been washed away, she still felt anxious and broke out in sweat just thinking about meeting the man, whose eyes were still gazing at her whenever she closed her eyes.

It was as though that image had burned its self into the back of her eyelids.

She dared to glimpse at her father, who leaned over the newspaper, his brows furrowed in concentration.

"Damn politicians." He muttered, taking a sip of his coffee before continuing to read, without ever paying her a single glance.

She shook her head absently, stirring her already cold tea. If she told him that she wanted to quit the job he had selected for her, he'd lose the last bit of respect he might still have had for her.

She felt a flare of anger within her.

She really _was _pathetic. What would Uchiha Sasuke think of her after all, if she were to quit her job the day after meeting him.

She scolded herself for being so cowardly and told herself again that he surely wasn't going to bite her head off once she entered his room. She didn't know why she was so scared of him and why she thought that everything he did was meant to embarrass or humiliate her.

Standing in front of the white door, her courage once again threatened to abandon her, as she tried not to activate her byakugan, almost as if she expected that he would have to battle the Uchiha physically.

She managed to gather enough courage to finally enter room 23 after imagining him sitting in his bed, laughing because he had noticed that she had been standing in front of the closed door for ten minutes without daring to enter.

She once again had to realize how ridiculously paranoid her thoughts had been when she saw that he was simply laying on his back, in his bed, the covers pulled up under his chin.

His eyes were closed, a soft frown marring his perfectly symmetric face, but she could imagine that this was as peaceful as his expression could get.

He was perfectly still, motionless, and his breathing was so slow and soft, that he almost looked as if he was pretending to be dead.

She frowned slightly, leaning down to look at him more closely. Unfortunately, she lost balance and fell forward, her chest crashing into his.

She breathed in, her eyes shut, as she waited for whatever he meant to do to her for waking him up so abruptly.

She dared to open one eye when nothing happened.

His eyes were still closed, his breathing still as soft and even as before.

She wouldn't fall for his act, she decided. He had to be faking to be asleep, because no person, much less a shinobi of his caliber, could possibly sleep that deeply.

He was just trying to make her think that he was sleeping waiting for her to drop her guard, so that he could sneak up on her and scare her...or something.

She got back up, her arms folded in front of her chest while she looked at him suspiciously. How long was he going to keep pretending to be asleep?

_Humph._ She was seeing right through his a—

She realized belatedly that the covers had slipped down, revealing his undressed chest.

Her twitching eyes were greeted by milky pale skin and seemed to be glued to the crease between his pectorals, while warmth spread through her body, a small blush creeping onto her cheeks. Now it was confirmed. He _was_ trying to embarrass her!

Before she could start to think about the undoubtedly evil intentions he'd had when he had decided to go to sleep without his shirt on, she noticed the thin but strong leather ropes that had been attached to the bed and lead underneath the covers.

She dared to lift the blanket, intrigued by the warmth of his skin, when she accidentally touched his arm. She had somehow expected his skin to be as cold as his demeanor.

Her eyes widened as they looked at his wrist that had been tied up so tightly, that his hand had turned an unhealthy shade of blue.

The restraints that had been used on him grew tighter, the more he fought them and they had small, sharp, metal spikes that were supposed to pierce the skin slightly to make sure that trying to escape would be painful.

However, these restraints were neither supposed to cut off circulation, nor meant to be used for more than two hours.

She pushed the covers away to reveal his whole left arm.

Within a few seconds, she had detected the small wound where a needle had broken through his skin when he had been injected with whatever drug that had induced his deathlike sleep.

Without hesitation, she loosened the leather restraints and opened them, before pulling them off completely.

His skin was bleeding and sore, giving away the fact that he hadn't been told about the special power of these restraints and had fought them vigorously. Her face contorted when she imagined the pain he must have felt.

She contemplated trying to heal his wounded wrists, but knew that she was way too flustered to be able to control her chakra properly.

And furthermore, she didn't feel the need to heal something so trivial. She surely wasn't going to play the role of the lamb that pulled the thorn out of the lion's toe in order to become friends with him, because she knew that she wouldn't impress Uchiha Sasuke by healing a couple of scratches. Moreover, she didn't even _want _to impress him or make him warm up to her in any way!

Without even realizing how much she was contradicting herself, she decided not to think about him anymore and left the room. After all, there were more patients she had to take care of, so she really couldn't afford to watch over him while he slept...not that she even wanted to do something like that, because that would have just been a waste of time. And even though she didn't really have anything to do, that still didn't mean that she would waste her time on _him_.

She didn't notice him stir, the frown on his face deepening.

* * *

"_H-Huh." Widened, red eyes, looking at him, begging him to tell her that the chidori that had run her through wasn't real._

"_-Can't bluff it any longer-" An orange mask. "-Light has almost faded out of your eyes-"_

"_I'm sorry_—_I can't let you live-" The chirping of a thousand, angry birds who wanted nothing more than to pierce the pitiful remains of his heart and take away the only thing he had left. His __**life**__._

Am I really—_alive_?

"_Kakash__-sensei, please, don't do it!" Green, tear-filled eyes. Disgusting. So __**wrong**__._

"_You have fallen_—_just like Orochimaru." One sharingan eye looking at him._

"_Sasuke-kun!" "Sasuke!!" _

_The lighting sword came closer._

_Black, almost blind eyes closed. There was no pain, but he could feel blood soak the front of his shirt, sticky, wet, warming his frozen, hardened heart._

_He heard a terrible, bloodcurdling scream, though it failed to faze him. _I always hated you, Karin.

_A weight collapsed against his chest. A shock of red hair was all he could see, as the woman fell down to the ground slowly._

"_S-Sasuke." She smiled wearily, her dull eyes searching for him. "I always—l-loved you."_

_More blood ran down her chin. A couple of seconds later, he knew that she was gone._

_A small breeze made his hair stir._

_His eyes narrowed, erasing every last sign of shock that might have shown on his face._

_Looking at Kakashi challengingly, who hadn't quite managed to get rid of the horror that had briefly filled his eyes, he slowly smirked, eyes filled with insane amusement._

"_So she wasn't that useless after all." And a small part within him hated himself, but he had long since locked his conscience deeply within him._

_Sasuke liked the way Kakashi's face scrunched up in disgust, as he looked at what his former pupil had become. _

"_Unforgivable." The Sharingan Kakashi, who had seen various atrocities, muttered under his breath._

"_Kill me and avenge her."_

_Chidori screamed at him again and his smirk widened. Eyes wide with anticipation._

"_KAKASHI!!" A flash of bright blond hair. "What are you __**doing!?**__"_

_And within a second, the blond was in front of his sensei, clut__ching the older man's right wrist._

"_Naruto, get out of the way! You don't understand. He's changed. For the sake of this world, I cannot let him live."_

"_Shut up!" The sound of a punch ripped through the air. Kakashi's chidori receded, as he held the wound on his forehead. In the distance, Sakura shrieked._

_Blue, innocent eyes turned to him, looked at him, observed him. There was recognition in them, but also the realization, that maybe, Kakashi hadn't been wrong._

"_Sasuke." He could hear that Naruto had trouble saying his name when the person in front of him was almost nothing like the Sasuke he once knew._

_And he felt the need to kill the blonde. Kill him and make him realize that their bond was fucking broken and that things would never be the way they were before. That there was nothing left to hope for._

_And everybody could see it in his eyes, that he was itching to kill the blond boy, kill his best friend, who he neither knew, nor felt connected to anymore._

Time has passed, I've changed.

_Sasuke felt the presence of Naruto's kage bunshin behind him. Long before the fist connected with the back of his head, knocking him out, he knew that it would happen._

_He collapsed right next to his dead teammate. The last thing he saw was her expressionless, unmoving face, her eyes staring into empty space._

_

* * *

  
_

Uchiha Sasuke wasn't amused about waking up in Konoha, in the fucking _loony bin_.

But that didn't stop him from laughing, because no matter how much it pissed him off, it was still kind of funny, ironic that _they _told him that they were trying to _cure _him, although there was _nothing_ he felt he needed to be cured of. That was just their pathetic excuse for locking him up and treating him like their prisoner, telling him that _he _was sick, that _he _was crazy.

If _they _had been in his shoes, would they have stayed here? Would they have wanted to let this village get away with the murder of _their _family? No!

And they told him that _he _was crazy for wanting to kill those who turned his life into living hell. That _he _was obsessed with revenge and had fallen into darkness.

But, _of course_, they just wanted to _help _him. Che. Sealing his chakra, locking him up and letting the people here drug him was _surely _going to help him! Surely _he _was just too crazy to realize that. He chuckled.

They were just trying to break him. He knew it! They were trying to break him and make him side with them, turning him into one of them, one of the fucking idiots who believed in gay shit like the 'will of fire'.

It had surely been the third hokage's and the elders' 'will of fire' that had led them to order Uchiha Itachi to kill his own family.

But being here, locked in a room without being able to use his chakra, still feeling dazed, all he could do was laugh at the pathetic, deceptive bastards who had been trying to kill him a couple of days ago, and who he wanted to kill so badly, the longing made his fingers twitch.

The only thing he could still believe in, after living a lie for nine fucking years, was the hatred that filled him to the brim.

His dark eyes searched the room, narrowing when he couldn't seem to find anything he could use as a weapon. He had decided the very second he had woken up, that, as soon as someone entered this room, he'd kill that person and escape.

He slowly got up, his muscles feeling sluggish and uncooperative. It seemed even his own body despised him now and did everything to stop him. At least his eyes had turned back to normal and weren't burning anymore, as if he had poured a vast amount of pepper into them.

He eyed the restraints, which were still dirty with his blood. He picked them up and pulled at each end, testing how strong they were.

His gaze darkened, when he heard silent, hesitant steps outside his door, coming closer.

Within a second, he had hidden in the darkest corner of the room, clutching the leather string in his hands, as he watched the door open slowly, a small stripe of light growing, as the door was pushed open by a fragile looking, pale hand.

He waited, until the pale eyed girl had walked past him, without seeing him due to the bad lighting.

Without warning, without a sound, he seized the girl by her ink black hair, pushing one hand in front of her mouth to stifle her shocked cry, while his other hand had wound the rope around her neck, tightening it, listening, as her shuddering breathing was cut off.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I'm quite late with the update, even though I had a lot of time...I didn't really know what to write, and since I can no longer live with uploading chapters I don't even like myself, it took some time. Sorry for keeping you waiting! But hey, at least this chapter is way longer than the last two!

Again: **This story will have nothing to do with my last story, which I deleted! I'm going to rename this as soon as I have thought of a proper title...does anyone have suggestions?**

Thanks for reading, please review! - Many reviews = fast update.


	4. Red drug

Her scent entered his nose, overwhelming him briefly, as he took a deep breath, drawing air into his lungs as if it was the very first breath he took at the beginning of a new life.

She smelled like lemon balm and orange blossoms, though those scents didn't really interest him, for the component of her scent that made him lean in and press his nose against the soft, ivory skin on the back of her neck, was the intoxicating scent of fear and cold sweat that slowly settled on her skin.

Her head was tilted towards him, her bright purple eyes practically glowing with horror and fear, as the moonlight reflected in them. His own eyes glazed over at the sight and he could feel his heartbeat speed up.

The scalding heat that emanated from her skin, warming his rather cold hand, which was still clasped tightly around her mouth and nose, made his blood boil within his veins, a surge of excitement and delight rushing through him as he drank in the sensations of feeling so alive, so in control eagerly.

His heart was pounding so hard, that he knew that she could feel his pulse jumping against her clothed back.

The thought of killing her, while she had to feel his heart beating, proving how very alive he was, was so fascinating to him, that a violent shudder wracked his body, as he anticipated the moment the light faded out of her eyes.

It reminded him a lot of sex. And he was waiting for the climax, which drew closer with every second, with every small, muffled whimper that left her lips, with each small convulsion of her body. In a very sick and twisted way, he was hugging her from behind.

He was mesmerized by the way her body trembled, her eyes unfocused, looking from his left eye to the right and back to the left, as if she was searching for a small flicker of compassion in his expression, a small sign that told her that he wouldn't really kill her. Her eyes widened impossibly when she couldn't seem to find anything but dreadful rapture.

The plan he had been pursuing was completely erased from his mind, even though he could hear the keys in her pocket rattle softly. He was too consumed by pleasure to even think about escaping.

And even though this moment seemed perfect to him, he missed the red shimmer of blood, the sound of it dropping onto the floor, its slippery, wet warmth on his fingers while the familiar, steely scent entered his nostrils, the scent that would never completely leave him, for his hands were stained with the blood of those he had ruthlessly murdered, the blood of his own _brother_—

All of a sudden, she was shoved away roughly by two strong hands, fingers digging into her back almost painfully.

She stumbled forward and sunk to her knees, drawing in air in deep breaths, while touching the sore skin on her neck carefully.

Something dropped onto the floor right next to her and she looked at the slightly blood stained leather string with which he had been trying to strangle her a couple of seconds ago.

Looking up at him in panic, she watched him gaze at his pale hands with confusion and mild disgust in his eyes.

He took a slow, controlled step backwards, staring at her with widened, almost fearful eyes, as if _she _had been trying to kill _him_.

She blinked and within a second, he had retreated into the farthest corner of the room, which sent shivers down her spine when she realized, that he could have just as easily and quickly killed her by now.

"Getoutofhere." He gasped out almost soundlessly, speaking through gritted teeth, fists clenched, as he tried to convince his body of staying away from the new found source of pleasure.

"_Get the fuck out_." And now he sounded angry and impatient, fighting against his own body.

Hinata practically jumped to her feet, leaping for the door just as it was kicked open and two of the doctors entered the room quickly.

"Are you alright?" One of them shouted at her, while he ran past her. She weakly nodded, unable to use her voice.

The Uchiha looked almost defenseless for a second. Neither he nor Hinata had realized, that only a few seconds had passed.

One of the white clad men managed to catch Sasuke off guard, seizing one of his arms and twisting it, until Hinata could hear a sickening crack rip through the air.

The seconds stretched as she waited for the agonized scream she was expecting to hear.

It horrified her when instead, all she heard was a short, breathless bark of laughter leaving the Uchiha's dampened lips, sounding shrill compared to his usually deep voice.

He grabbed the man with one hand and threw him across the room where he collided with the wall and slipped down onto the ground in a rather relaxed posture. Blood started to soak his dark blond hair and formed a small puddle on the ground next to his head, drawing the Uchiha's attention to it.

The way the moonlight reflected on its smooth, crimson surface seemed to hypnotize him.

He was so distracted by the sight of blood, that he didn't care about the other man approaching him again, clutching something in his right hand.

The sensation of something thin stabbing his arm shook him out of his daze and he tore his eyes away from the bleeding man on the ground reluctantly.

Black eyes widened, dulling, as the insane delight at seeing blood left them, when Sasuke realized, that everything around him seemed to spin and turn and shift.

Hinata watched, as he faltered, slumping against the wall.

In slow motion, she watched the Uchiha topple forward, as if a huge weight had been tied around his midsection.

She realized forcefully how truly perfect his face looked, as his dark, threatening eyes slid shut. She suddenly noticed how perfectly pristine his pale skin was, how his prominent, high cheekbones complimented his perfect nose and how his black, long lashes made him look prettier than most girls she knew.

A strangle feeling surged through her, as she looked at his angelic features while she watched him _fall_.

She didn't really have time to think.

Within a second, she had jumped forward, catching him, before his face, his _perfect _face, could come into contact with the hard ground.

He wasn't really heavy, she realized. Looking down at him curiously, she watched his expression relax, as he finally had no other choice but to surrender to sleep. He had been injected with a strong narcotic.

As he lay there, in her arms, he looked almost vulnerable.

* * *

"—tried to kill you?" The sixth/seventh (if you counted Dazou) Hokage stood in the dark hallway, looking rather out of place.

Hatake Kakashi had insisted on keeping his usual clothing, although he was now the most powerful man in Konoha. _'It's ony for a short amount of time anyway.' _He'd said, smiling at his blond student warmly, underneath the dark blue mask.

"A-Ano— I-I—"

"He would have killed her, if it hadn't been for _us_." The dark blond haired doctor said, pressing an ice pack against the back of his head. He earned a rather unimpressed look from Kakashi, before the Hatake looked at Hinata once again, interest showing in his usually half-lidded eye.

Although it was subtle, Kakashi had become a bit more commanding ever since he had become Hokage. Apart from that, nothing had changed about him. He was still notoriously late, though he now blamed it on all the 'paperwork' he had to do.

"B-But h-h-he r-released me b-befo—" She was rudely interrupted.

"Are you defending him? He tried to _kill_ you. And he would have succeeded, if we hadn't stopped him." Kakashi sighed very, very softly. It was 11:30 pm. He was tired, he had been on the way to his apartment (which also hadn't changed a bit, despite his promotion) to do what he did every evening: Eat, read Icha Icha to distract himself enough to be able to fall asleep, only to wake up the next morning with the sharp edge of the book digging into his cheek.

But now, some Chuunin had to come and inform him that Uchiha Sasuke was trying to kill the clinic staff.

_Still a brat, obviously._

But he couldn't deny that said brat had grown very strong and dangerous over the last three years.

"Can I talk to Hinata in private?" Kakashi asked, watching the doctor throw him an offended look, before shrugging and pointing into a random direction. Kakashi didn't move, looking at the doctor, until the man shuffled away awkwardly, mumbling something under his breath.

"Can you lead me to his room?" Kakashi asked Hinata, who startled briefly.

"H-Hai." She motioned for him to follow her, her fingers absently tracing the purple bruises forming on her neck.

They halted in front of the door, both breathing in and waiting for just a short moment.

"He's sleeping now, isn't he?" Kakashi whispered, as his hand reached for the doorknob. She had to resist the urge to grab Kakashi's shoulder, in order to prevent him from opening that door. She hadn't really had any time to try to deal with the fact, that she had almost been killed today.

_What if _Sasuke _hadn't _come back to his senses in time? _What if_ no one had heard her yell? And though the answer to these questions was rather simple, it still seemed so confusing.

"Don't worry." She heard Kakashi say. She could only imagine the smile that curled his lips underneath his mask, because he was facing the door. "I'll protect you."

Her eyes watered slightly, although she couldn't really explain why. Maybe, _maybe _because she had wished to hear those words, even though the small part within her that still had something like pride rejected her for needing someone to reassure her.

They entered rather unspectacularily, muting their steps, as they approached the bed.

As he lay there, the moonlight tinting his hair a dark shade of blue, the Uchiha looked rather harmless.

He was lying on his side, facing them, cushioning his head with his left arm, while his right upper arm hid most of his face, completely covering his eyes.

He looked like a small boy who was trying to hide from monsters, but she knew that the monsters that haunted his dreams were way more real.

"He'll be unconscious for some time now, won't he?" Hinata nodded and made a small affirmative sound, though she couldn't seem to get herself to say yes, because she felt like she'd be lying if she did.

They reached the bed, standing over the Uchiha, whose chest was rising and falling slowly and evenly.

Kakashi's hand reached out and Hinata opened her mouth, trying to warn him not to touch the raven, but her voice failed her.

Kakashi pulled Sasuke's splinted right arm away from his face, without the Uchiha noticing whatsoever. Even now, he was frowning.

"What happened to his arm?" he asked her, eying Sasuke with an almost soft expression on his face.

"I th-think it's b-b-broken." She stammered. She was trembling.

"You can perform healing ninjutsu, can't you?" It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "Why didn't you simply heal his arm?" Kakahsi didn't sound reproachful, he sounded rather curious. Hinata swallowed slowly, as if she was trying to gulp down her own gullet.

"I-...I w-was...I was sc-scared of b-being that c-c-close to h-him." She admitted, her cheeks reddening her eyes stinging with the uncoming wetness of tears, though she surpressed them quickly and efficiently.

Kakashi nodded. There was no other reply from him, and it made her think that whatever he was thinking about her now, couldn't possibly be flattering in any way.

"That's probably painful." Kakashi said matter of factly, referring to Sasuke's broken arm. Hinata inwardly nodded at his statement, feeling slightly guilty for not having the courage to heal him. On the other hand, why should she want to get close to someone who had been trying to kill, no, had been having _fun _trying to kill her a few hours ago?!

"Maybe he deserves it." Kakashi stated, just as calmly as before, without turning around to look at her quivering form. Her eyes widened considerably.

"I-I didn't want to p-punish him!" she exclaimed rather loudly, shocked by the fact that Kakashi could even assume something like that. She clasped one hand over her mouth when she realized that it wasn't the smartest thing to shout when someone was sleeping next to you. Especially if you didn't want that _person _to wake up.

"I know that, Hinata." Kakashi said matter of factly.

"G-Gomen." She stammered, bowing her head in apology.

The silence that ensued was rather uncomfortable and she decided to walk around the bed, so that she would at least be able to look at Kakashi.

Kakashi's face was unreadable, mostly due to the mask, though his eyes looked softer than usual.

"I'm sorry that I got you in danger. I was naive enough to believe that there was still something left of his old self." Kakashi's voice sounded tired and resigned. Hinata felt sorry for him. After all, Kakashi had been something like a father figure for the Uchiha and seeing what he had become must have been painful for the gray haired jounin.

"I-It's alright, Kakashi-s-sensei." She muttered, flushing because she felt ashamed for making Kakashi apologize to her, although nothing had really happened, right?

She was still alive, and that was what really mattered!

"You should tie him back up." Kakashi said after a moment of silence. "He's _dangerous_. I don't want anyone else to get injured or—" She nodded in understandment.

A sad frown formed on Kakashi's face and Hinata felt almost ashamed of being here and witnessing the Hatake display so much emotion. Although it wasn't that obvious, Kakashi was just a ninja who had, to some degree, lost the ability to show emotion, hiding his true feelings behind grins and wise words.

He brushed a dark strand of hair out of Sasuke's face with one lightly _trembling_(?) hand. "I can't believe that he enjoys seeing people suffer. I would have never thought that he could fall that far." Kakashi's hands clenched into fists as he turned his eyes away from his former student.

Surprisingly, it was Hinata who broke the silence next.

"I-I think he's the o-one who's s-suffering the m-most."

* * *

_Sorry for the rather late update! _

_I had sooo much to do. I'm at school most of the time and when I'm NOT at school, I'm doing homework or studying (Nope I'm not a nerd, I'm going to have my final exams quite soon that's why I have to study). And to make matters worse my dad is in the hospital and I visited him whenever I had time (which was like...twice a week or something.) I HATE OUR NEW SCHOOL SYSTEM!!_

_And thank you people for your reviews! I kind of wasn't all that motivated during the first two chapters, because only a couple of people took the time to review. I swear, if I hadn't been so motivated to continue this story, this chapter would have probably taken MONTHS!_

_(watch out, might contain SPOILER!!): In Manga 485 Sasuke said something about revenge giving him a high...I was totally amazed because the previous week I had written the first part of this chapter, where Sasuke discovers killing as something that kind of works like a drug.  
_

_I hope you enjoyed it! Please review and please never hesitate to inform me about mistakes, because I'm still learning!  
_


	5. Free

The walls seemed to slowly move towards him. Had it been an hour, had it been a day, a week since he had woken up, to find his hands and feet free?

The blinds were closed, so that not one small ray of light made it through and for that reason, he had completely lost track of time. Either that, or it was because he was constantly slipping in and out of consciousness, no longer able to distinguish if he was imagining the blood on his hands, on his face, in his eyes, _everywhere_.

Its smell filled the sticky, hot air, mixed with the faint smell of his own vomit.

His stomach hurt and his insides clenched painfully with every stab of pain, which emanated from the seals on his wrists and ankles.

Maybe he hadn't been imagining trying to break down the door to escape this suffocating, confining room. Maybe he had really tried to use chakra to get out of here and that was why his seals were reacting so violently. But merely thinking about how and why he was in pain caused his head to ache, so he decided to try to distract himself.

For minutes, he sat there, wrapping his arms around his knees, shoulders hunched in defense, while he slowly rocked back and forth, incoherent words falling from his quivering, bruised lips.

The only sound he heard was the constant beat of his heart, which seemed so loud in his ears, that he wished it would just _stop _so he could get some sleep.

Defenseless, he waited, convinced that only a miracle could get him out of there. And the walls continued to creep closer, baring their white, sharp fangs as they smirked, gloating silently, knowing that he could do nothing but wait for them to get him and let their rage and hatred out on him and return justice to this world.

His head snapped up when he heard silent steps approach from outside.

Blunt nails raked over bruises, scratches and cuts he couldn't really explain, as he brushed imaginary dirt from his arms. His hands were immediately dampened by blood, becoming slippery, he felt no pain though.

He saw the tiny ray of light that made it through the keyhole being blocked, as someone stopped in front of his prison.

Light flooded into the room as the door opened, and he shielded his eyes with the back of his hand. Lowering it carefully, he was surprised to be looking at a young woman wearing nothing but a white, oversized nightgown, staring down at him with an undefinable smile on her lips.

There was something mischievous about her, but as he looked up at her pretty face, it strangely didn't bother him too much.

His attention was drawn to her right hand, where she held a bunch of keys, letting it dangle from her index finger.

"Let's make a deal." She whispered, her warm breath puffing against his lips, making him realize how close she was to him. He understood within less than a second.

Slowly, the corners of his mouth moved upwards, curling his lips into a demonic smile that made his eyes glow with insanity. With one hand, he pushed the door closed, while the girl shrugged of the nightgown.

The walls had stopped moving.

* * *

"What's wr-wrong?" she asked two doctors who ran by her quickly. One of them turned his head.

"It's Yumi, she's escaped again and we can't seem to find her anywhere. Search the rooms on this floor!"

Hinata didn't have time to tell him that she was actually quite busy right now, so she sighed.

Yumi was one of the youngest patients. She was only 17 years old and Hinata had never really found out what was wrong with her, since she always seemed so normal. Well, apart from her frequent escapes.

Most of the times, she was found somewhere in a supply closet or the kitchen, slicing the skin on her arms open with anything sharp she could get her hands on.

Luckily, she never managed to kill herself.

Every time, they had failed to discover how she had escaped, so they had simply accepted it as an ritual to search the whole building for her every two to three weeks. Apart from those incidents, she was just a very friendly and very pretty young girl.

But Hinata somehow felt that this time it was different. Especially, since the last time Yumi had escaped had been five days ago, the same day that Uchiha Sasuke had been admitted.

And as soon as _that name _entered her mind, she knew that _he _had to have something to do with it. When something bad happened, he was _always _involved, so why should it be different now?

Shivering, she drew in air through her mouth, shoving her hand into her right pocket to draw out the bunch of keys she had acquired the day she had begun to work here.

She was about to enter the hallway to look for the girl, when she heard a door close.

Slowly, she crept out of the room and almost bumped into Yumi.

For a short moment, both of them just stared at each other in disbelief.

Yumi's light brown, shoulder length hair was messier than usual, her eyes were glazed over and her cheeks glowed an intense shade of red. Her breathing was fast and Hinata noticed that the pupils of her dark green eyes were dilated.

"Y-Yumi." She stammered, closing one hand around the other girl's wrist to keep her from leaving, although she needn't have bothered, because the girl didn't seem to want to go anywhere in particular.

"Hai." Yumi's voice sounded hoarse and scratchy, as if she had been screaming for a long time. Her eyes were slightly unfocused.

When they both got up and started to walk, Hinata noticed that the other girl was limping and staggering.

"D-Did you-" She stopped walking, as did Yumi, who looked at her curiously. "Did you t-take drugs?"

The girl laughed creepily, throwing her head back, so that her hair wasn't covering her neck, where a couple of blueish red marks were starting to form.

Hinata blushed slightly, but she didn't comment. A few minutes later, she had brought Yumi back to her room, without her protesting.

Hinata informed everyone and everything turned back to normal. But not for long.

It was 3 pm, when hasty steps could be heard in the hallway. Hinata, who had been looking forward to the end of her shift, stopped counting the seconds and looked up from the magazine she had been skimming without real interest.

She heard angry voices yell, so she decided to see what was wrong.

Somehow, she already knew that it would have something to do with Uchiha Sasuke because he was the one person she hoped to never meet again, yet she was constantly forced to face him again.

The door to his room was open, the light was on. Two men were standing inside, searching the room.

Hinata entered silently, swallowing and hoping that this wasn't what it looked like. It felt as though the Uchiha's very fingers had closed around her neck.

There were deeps scratches in the walls, as though a wild animal had been captured in this room. There were bloodstains on the floor, some smudged, a bloody imprint of a hand was on the wall next to the window.

The bedsheets had been ripped, the metal frame of the bed was out of shape, and the wooden nightstand next to the bed had been smashed.

She couldn't breathe for a moment. The strength with which this room had been destroyed was beyond her imagination. And the fact that Sasuke had done so much damage without even using chakra, was simply horrifying. Especially since he had broken out and was now somewhere in the area.

"He has managed to escape. Someone will have to warn the Hokage immediately!"

* * *

"What?!" Kakashi almost dropped his favorite book when the Hyuuga girl had rushed into his office with fear written all over her face. "How?"

"We don't kn-know yet. There are no signs that he u-used violence. The d-door was intact."

"So he managed to steal the keys from someone?" Kakashi asked, raising one eyebrow.

"W-We're not sure. It looks like another p-patient helped him."

Kakashi sighed. He'd known that this would happen. Actually, it hadn't really been a question of _if_, but a question of _when _Sasuke would break out. Kakashi knew that he had been foolish to believe that this would go well.

"W-We should warn everyone n-not to leave their h-houses." Hinata suggested, trying to keep her body from trembling.

"No. That would only provoke him. I don't think that he'll start killing random people. He's going to wreak his vengeance upon the village's elders first." Kakashi got up, throwing a rain coat over. Outside, dark clouds gathered and from somewhere far away, they could hear the thunderstorm coming closer.

"I need you to look for him with your byakugan, Hinata. Come with me."

"H-Hai!"

* * *

He was running. He knew that he didn't have much time. Luckily, he knew exactly where he had to go.

Stopping in front of the building, he looked up at the sky and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He was already trembling with excitement.

He opened the old wooden door, which wasn't looked. It made him grin darkly. Apparently Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu had felt very safe, with him looked up in the loony bin.

Climbing the stairs slowly, his longing increased with every step he took. Without a sound, he reached the first floor. He didn't have to search for his victims. He could hear their voices through the door, which had been left ajar, so that a small stripe of light reached him, as he approached.

His breathing quickened and he clenched his teeth as he let the rage take over, that he had harbored inside of him until it had completely poisoned him and stripped him of his sanity.

The shock and fear in his victims' eyes made him grin, baring teeth that could pass off as fangs. With wide eyes he stared at them.

No words were spoken. A couple of horrible, blood curdling screams ripped through the air, combined with horrifying, insane laughter.

Then, a deep, deathly silence settled in.

* * *

All of the rookie nine (except for Sasuke, obviously) had gathered and were concentrating on what Kakashi told them.

"We'll split up in teams. Hinata, you will go with Kiba and Shino. You will try to find him."

Kiba nodded, although he knew that tracking the Uchiha by scent was almost impossible due to the weather.

"Ino, Shikamaru and Choji, I want you to watch over the village. If you should come across Sasuke, do not try to fight him! You're no match for him."

"Got it!" Ino said, her voice cracking a little with fear.

"Naruto, Sakura, you'll come with me. Naruto, you're the only one who might have a chance of defeating him. Sakura, in case there's a battle, you have to heal Naruto!"

They both nodded quietly. Sakura was pale. She looked, as though she was about to faint. Naruto was frowning, but there was a painful sadness in his eyes.

"If something happens, we meet against at this spot!" Kakashi stabbed a kunai into the ground to mark their meeting place.

"Hai!"

* * *

**Hi! Sorry, but I had to take a break. My father was trying to die on us (...again), only now it wasn't because of the disease that was originally killing him, no, now he had to get cancer, too :C Well, I also had some problems to solve in my real life before I could come back here. I'm in the process of getting my driver's license and I finally quit school because it's just getting too much for me at the moment. (I already have my degree.)**

**Well, about the chapter:**

**Sasuke is insane. Hinata is scared of him and associates him with nothing but bad stuff. Aaand the other characters will probably get some more screen time :) Oh and btw, that chick I made up (Yumi, I think) will not appear in the story anymore. I just made her up to show that Sasuke does everything to get his revenge...even making deals with complete strangers.  
**

**I'm sorry if there are mistakes, in this, I just wanted to update it asap.**

**Well, so long! Please review! Thx!**

**2Late  
**


	6. Burdened

He stumbled outside of the building, eyes wide, pupils dilated. There had been so much blood. So much of it. It soaked his clothes, sticky warmth making him sweat, while he felt his stomach turn. Taking deep breaths, he staggered forwards, without knowing where exactly he was going. All he could think of, was to get as far away from here as possible. Every step seemed so much more exhausting with the blood weighing him down.

What now? He looked around like a lost child, eyes wide, dead, trembling bloodstained hands opening and closing, trying to grab a hold of his sanity.

A screaming silence filled his head, isolating him from the world around him, voices whispering in his head, telling him to die and rot in hell. They eerily reminded him of his former teammates' voices.

The sky above him rumbled threateningly, dark clouds seeming to hang right above his head, so close to him, that he felt he could touch them, if he reached out.

Vertigo made him lose balance, falling to his knees in the middle of some forest, twigs and stones digging into his knees, though he couldn't feel it at all. Breathing got harder and he forced himself to inhale and exhale as normally as possible. It felt as though his own body was trying to suffocate him, but then again, maybe he could just stop breathing, lie down on the dirty ground and pretend to be dead. Maybe he could just wait here, his slowing heartbeat lulling him into eternal sleep.

* * *

Kakashi knew upon nearing the building, that what he was about to see would not be pleasant at all. It filled him with unease, even though he had seen quite a lot of things.

He was sure, that the people in there were dead. The door was open and he was greeted by blood tinging the wooden floor.

He gave the blond haired ninja, who was following, a short hand sign, telling him to stay where he was.

Kakashi proceeded to climb the stairs, each step slippery with blood, dripping down the railing as well. The stains grew thicker, the closer he came to the door, which was left ajar, leading into a conference room.

The door creaked, as he pushed it open. He didn't see anything he hadn't been expecting, but he still couldn't breathe, as the stench of blood entered his nose even through the cloth of his mask.

The old woman was lying on her stomach. Kakashi rushed to her side and turned her around, wanting to feel her pulse. The skin on her neck was completely gone, the artery had been cut through, as well as her larynx and her windpipe, explaining the large amount of blood. She had been almost decapitated.

The old man lay on the ground in a heap near the door. Apparently, he had tried to escape, even after he had been struck. A wide, gaping cut opened the skin of his back, broken ribs digging into his lungs. But somehow he had managed to crawl towards the door, before his murderer had turned him around, and stabbed him in the chest, dragging the sharp letter opener that still protruded from the old man's chest towards his heart, cutting clean through it. Sasuke hadn't stopped there, though, because the old man's ribcage had been torn open completely, apparently by the Uchiha's bare fingers.

"Kakashi-sensei? What's going on up there?" Naruto's voice called and Kakashi breathed in sharply.

He turned around, glad that he hadn't let Sakura and Naruto follow him. Sure, they had to see this kind of stuff, so that they'd get used to it, but not when they knew who did it and couldn't think of that person as a despicable monster.

"Don't come upstairs." Kakashi said firmly. He wasn't just shocked, he decided, he was completely and utterly disgusted. This truly was an act of revenge.

"Are you alright?" Sakura's worried voice yelled and Kakashi left the room, lest the two of them decided to follow him despite his orders.

The Copy ninja's expression was painfully serious when he walked down the stairs. He left bloody footprints behind. Naruto's blue eyes widened.

"Kakashi...sensei?" Kakashi threw Naruto a short glance, wiping a drop of sweat from his temple.

"How bad is it?" Sakura asked, her voice quivering.

"He didn't kill them." Kakashi said and Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief. "He butchered them." Sakura's eyes closed and she lowered her head.

"Naruto, Sakura, he's still somewhere in the area. We have to find him. Let's go."

* * *

He didn't know when he managed to get up again. His whole body felt stiff from lying in the same position for too long. But something just told him to keep walking, running through the forest, leaves slapping against his skin, twigs scratching his cheeks and arms open. He reached a clearing and looked around, breathing harshly, his throat scratching, knees weak from exhaustion.

Coughing breathlessly, he managed to stand upright once again. At the other side of the clearing was a large rock face. He ran towards it, climbing it with ease, even though he couldn't use chakra.

And suddenly he was standing on top of the third Hokage's stone head, looking down at the entire village. The sight took his breath away temporarily and he looked up at the sky.

The approaching thunderstorm was convenient, he decided. Patiently, he waited for the thunderstorm to begin, knowing, that he'd won, once the first bolt of lightening illuminated the sky.

He felt disgusted as he looked down at the village and its still crowded streets.

A kunai barely missed his head, cutting open his right cheek. He turned around, not bothered by the warm liquid starting to run down the side of his face.

"Sasuke!" a familiar voice yelled and suddenly he had an angry blond on top of him, raising his fists to hit him in the face. Naruto pulled a face when his knuckles collided with Sasuke's cheekbone, which was even more prominent than usually, because he had clearly lost weight in the last few weeks.

Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, but he didn't even raise his hand to wipe it away.

For a moment, they both just stared at each other, angry blue orbs meeting empty, onyx black eyes.

Naruto leaned down, and for a short moment, any outsider would have had the ridiculous impression that he was going to kiss the dark haired man beneath him, but instead, he crashed his forehead against the raven's forcefully, forcing him to close his eyes for a short moment.

There was still no reaction from the Uchiha and the seconds stretched, as Kakashi and Sakura waited for something to happen.

Suddenly, pale, long fingered hands grasped Naruto tightly, throwing him off, before Sasuke got up swiftly, kicking the other boy in the stomach while he was still on his back.

He caught a kunai almost absently, which had been aimed at his head, without even looking at it. Jumping backwards, he gathered the second kunai from the floor.

A sudden, stinging pain in his eyes made him drop one of the kunai knives, as he covered his eyes with one hand, keeping in a groan of agony. Apparently, without even realizing, he had tried to activate the sharingan.

In those brief moments he'd had no choice but to let his guard down, Naruto had managed to tackle him down onto the ground, his fist once again colliding with his cheekbone, his body sliding backwards with the force as well as the added weight of the blond on top of him, and a short gasp escaped his lips, as he felt a few of his ribs give out and break.

"What the _hell_ have you done?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth, blues eyes on the verge of turning bright red.

Sasuke didn't bother to reply. In fact, there was no reaction on his behalf at all. He just kept staring up at Naruto blankly, without even blinking once.

"Tell me!" Two strong hands grabbed his shirt to pull him up closer to the blond boy. "Sasuke!"

The Uchiha's eyes closed.

"That's a stupid question." He replied. His voice sounded foreign, even to him. Cold, dark and detached. The breath was knocked out of him when Naruto slammed him into the ground beneath him. Blood sprinkled Naruto's face, as Sasuke coughed violently.

Vision blurring, he forced his eyes to focus on Naruto, denying his body to slip into unconsciousness. He was really tired, he realized and his body was aching all over. Suddenly, he remembered, that not that much time had passed since he'd defeated Danzou. Maybe his body hadn't recovered yet.

And there were hands supporting him, all of a sudden, gripping his upper arms tightly and gathering him up like a broken doll.

And it reminded him too much of those pale, long fingered hands roaming over sensitive skin, like small insects crawling up and down his chest, making him shudder with revolt and the sudden warmth, as the touches seemed to burn themselves through his skin, to leave permanent, invisible marks.

In a brief moment of panic, Sasuke kicked and punched, scratching and biting and pulling on coarse, short hair almost blindly, not caring what kind of damage he was doing, as long as it meant that he'd be let go.

"_Don't touch me_." He hissed under his breath, wide, dark eyes looking around in blank horror.

Naruto stared at him in confusion, while he wiped blood from his cheek and rubbed his head, where Sasuke had just torn out a tuft of hair.

All he wanted was to sleep and forget and block out. And he needed to get out of here, before more of such memories managed to break free from the back of his mind, where he'd sealed them away, hoping that they would just vanish.

Steps approached him and he looked up at the blonde boy above him, trying his best to back away.

"Get away from me." He whispered. "..get...away from me!" But Naruto wouldn't stop and Sasuke felt like a cornered bunny, looking up at the fox.

"Sasuke..." And now Naruto was so close to him, that their foreheads almost touched and Sasuke was frozen in place. "What the hell is wrong with you?" A hand reached for Sasuke's shoulder.

Naruto hadn't expected an answer, heck, he hadn't even expected an reaction. And because of that, he was rather caught of guard, when Sasuke's left fist collided violently with his jaw.

Blood ran down the blond's chin and he spat a tooth onto the ground, which had been knocked out. He had no time to recover, though, because another punch landed on his right cheekbone, before the back of his head was slammed against the hard ground repetitively.

"I told you not to fucking touch me!" Sasuke yelled, voice hoarse with inexplicable anger.

His knee held down Naruto's arm, while his hand twisted, until Naruto's wrist gave out and broke with a sickening crack.

A horrifying howl of pain ripped through the air.

And then there was silence. A terrible, deathly silence, while Sasuke hovered above Naruto, watching almost curiously, as the other boy's face scrunched up in pain.

From the corner of his eye, Sasuke could see Kakashi getting ready to attack. His hand twitched and he was about to get up and get ready to fight, when Naruto spoke.

"Don't...interfere." he cried, while fighting to sit up, cradling his right hand with his left. He was paling visibly with every passing second.

"Let me handle...this." he ground out. A hand pushing against his chest stopped him, before he could even try to get up.

Dark eyes peered down at Naruto, as he dared to open his eyes for a short moment. There was something like curiousity in Sasuke's eyes, as he watched the younger boy start to tremble uncontrollably. Red chakra was starting to bubble up from underneath Naruto's skin, enveloping his body like a protecting cloak. His right hand, which was bent in a way it clearly wasn't meant to, suddenly snapped back into place with a jerking motion, fingernails turning into claws.

And then Sasuke was the one pinned down, completely at Naruto's mercy.

"I'm going to stop you. And I don't care if this is unfair, as long as I defeat you." Naruto growled. Sasuke's expression was not readable. His dark eyes roamed over his wrists, which were in Naruto's tight grip, and surprise and anxiety filled his face, without him being able to stop it.

He was being touched against his will. He was being pinned down by someone and touched, even though he didn't want it. It was so much like those times. Too much.

And suddenly, it wasn't Naruto's face looking down at him. Those weren't the red eyes Naruto had, when he transformed. No, those eyes were definitely a yellowish shade of green, and this pale, long face looking down at him, _smiling _down at him, gloating, it wasn't Naruto's.

And he realized he had to kill that person. He had to. If he didn't those memories would haunt him forever. Those memories he had been sure he'd supressed with those shiny pills he took, those pills which always made him see so many colors and made him leave earth for a very short time, giving him an almost orgasmic high.

He barely managed to dodge a well aimed punch and gathered himself up on his knees. He crawled away a few meters, feeling a strong pressure inside of his head.

The seals on his arms began to itch and burn, and suddenly, they activated, turning bright orange.

A wave of pain drowned him and he wasn't quite sure if he was screaming, or if someone else was, but someone was screaming so loudly, it only increased the damn pressure in his head.

He felt his eyes begin to burn and he was too blinded by pain to notice liquid starting to run down his face.

The pain was in his eyes now, too, and he covered them with one hand, feeling it getting slippery.

He didn't know how long the pain lasted, but to him, it seemed like hours. However, when he dared to open his sore eyes, he noticed that not much time had passed.

A shrill cry of fear made him look around at the pink haired girl standing a few meters away. And it was then that he realized what had happened. It made his eyes widen, as he wiped his cheek with the back of his left hand, looking down at the red liquid staining his skin.

His Mangekyou Sharingan had activated.

* * *

**This chapter really was a bitch to write...nyeh...so sorry for the long wait. Next chapter won't take this long, I promise. Btw, I have my driver's license now! And it's fucking awesome!**

**Anyway, thanks for reading, please review.  
**


	7. Save my life

Everything seemed to freeze, the moment Sasuke's eyes met Naruto's. Even the wind ceased to blow, the thunder stilled.

Blood leaked from his eye sockets, crimson tears dribbling down his pale face and hitting the dirty ground.

A powerful, dark aura surrounded Sasuke, as he approached Naruto, and the blonde boy felt like he'd been paralysed. He couldn't move one muscle.

Slowly, the Kyuubi's chakra started to recede, and more blood poured from Sasuke's eyes, his fingers twitching from the pain it caused him to use his eyes despite the seal.

It felt, like every ounce of power was being drained out of him, as if it was being ripped right away from him, as Naruto's eyes dulled and looked into the distance dreamily.

An evil smirk formed on Sasuke's face, when he felt the blond's control slip away, as he surrendered to him.

_Kill those two. _He ordered telepathically. Naruto moved without hesitation, walking towards Kakashi and Sakura. For a short moment, a small bit of Naruto's chakra regained control, but Sasuke suppressed it immediately, giving him no chance to influence his actions.

_Kill them__!_

His head felt like his skull was slowly breaking in two pieces, his eyes feeling ready to pop out and he knew he'd have to hurry, because he didn't know how much longer he could stay conscious with this increasingly unbearable pain ripping through every fiber of his body.

_Kill them now__!_

Naruto raised one of his claw like hands, ready to strike, as Sakura stood in front of him, frozen in place.

"N-Naruto." She whispered, her voice cracking and trembling. The blond raised his hand towards the sky, just as it darkened unexpectedly.

Something soft tickled Sasuke's cheek, a soft caress he, being the love starved human he regretted being so often, felt the need to lean into.

Outstretching his left hand, he caught something very soft and delicate in his hand.

It was raining raven black feathers.

His eyes widened, as he looked upwards, watching more and more feathers falling down from above.

"Wh-What-" He couldn't even find words that could describe his confusion. "What's h-happening?"

Hands grabbed his bruised upper arms in a tight, but not painful grip. And there were black strands of hair tickling his forehead.

"Stop, Sasuke." A painfully familiar voice whispered. "Stop it."

Blood red sharingan looked at him, as he dared to glance up.

The pale skin, the black hair, features so much like his own, yet different. He was looking into the face of his own brother.

His eyes widened considerably, mouth slightly agape, while his whole body began to shiver uncontrollably with horror and grief.

"Y-You're dead." The words were barely comprehensible, due to his violently trembling lips. "I.-I...k-killed you."

"Sasuke. Stop this. It's wrong and I know that you're aware of it."

He fell to his knees, clutching each side of his head desperately, while he tore at his dark hair.

"You're...you're not real. Get out of my head!" The pain returned suddenly, forcing him to curl up, as a horrible scream of agony tore from his lips. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!"

"Stop this! Don't punish the innocent. Forget about revenge. Forget about your hatred!"

He screamed again, all his muscles clenching.

"Stop this before it's too late. _Don't let my sacrifice be in vain_."

His body ceased all movement for a moment, as his eyes widened even more. Was he really...Was he really making his brother's suffering in vain, by trying to make those responsible for his brother's torment feel at least some semblance of the suffering they had caused his brother?

Had _everything _he'd done so far, been completely in vain? Had he really been living a lie once again?

It felt as though the ground beneath him was crumbling and shattering into tiny little pieces, cutting open his feet, as, for another time, his reality crashed down on him, all the lies he had kept believing in raining down at him.

Every time he had found something to believe in, something he could keep on living for, it turned out to be deception.

He was still on his hands and knees, the cold ground beneath him being the only thing that kept him in contact with the real world.

Vision blurring uncontrollably, he covered his mouth with his hand, as his stomach made a lazy turn and clenched up painfully.

Heaving and retching, he coughed up yellow bile that was so bitter, it burned on his tongue. His abdominal muscles cramped with the effort. And there was a hand patting his back, and another one holding back his bangs, but he couldn't really pay attention to it.

It took some time before his stomach was even emptier than it had been before.

"Are you alright?" Naruto's voice asked almost timidly, with this soft and caring tone of voice Sasuke didn't actually deserve.

Wide black eyes stared at him, before Sasuke broke free from him in a matter of seconds.

Slowly, he crawled backwards, away from the blond who didn't quite understand why the Uchiha seemed so terrified of him.

He slowly approached the other boy, stopping immediately, when Sasuke came dangerously close to the edge of the third Hokage's stone head.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" The horrified expression on Sasuke's face only intensified and the blond yelled for him to stop, but the Uchiha was at the edge and let himself fall backwards.

Naruto watched with horror in his eyes, as his best friend fell, ten, fifteen, twenty meters, an incredulous expression stuck on Sasuke's features.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled and couldn't seem to tear his eyes away, no matter how much he wanted to. He was leaning so far over the edge, that he was almost falling down himself, but there were two gloved hands holding him.

Sasuke's former teammates could do nothing but watch, as the dark haired man hit the ground.

Naruto closed his eyes, tears running down his face uncontrollably.

The clouds above their heads ceased all movement, and it started to rain, thick drops of water making the leaves of the many trees around them bend, some of them even getting ripped off and knocked down into the quickly growing puddles.

Next to him, he could hear Sakura sob frantically, while he covered his eyes with his hands, shaking his head trying to deny the fact that he had not been able to save his best friend.

A gasp made him look up, blue eyes already beginning to look puffy and red from crying.

It was Kakashi, whose visible eye was widened, while he looked down in disbelief.

Naruto followed his gaze and all color drained out of his face, as he watched the dark figure twenty meters below them trudge somewhere into the depths of the forest, clearly injured, but obviously still alive enough to move.

"Naruto, Sakura!" The two of them nodded quickly, knowing that there was no room for them to show their relief.

* * *

It felt strangely warm. The blood leaving his body quickly wrapped him into a warm, almost comfortable red blanket.

Wasn't he supposed to feel cold while the only source of warmth in his body was steadily dripping out of him? Was this hell's welcoming gift for him, a small semblance of the awaiting purgatory?

Or was he simply delusional, bizzare pictures flashing before his eyes, as words tumbled from his lips, maybe prayers, maybe obscenities, maybe only a mix of incoherent sobs and giggles he concocted somewhere in his raw throat. And maybe there really was something like a god who pitied him enough to let him die that undignified death, curled up on the dirty ground, bleeding to death from wounds he had inflicted on himself, with a weapon he had taken from the very person who wanted him to live the most.

With blurry, unfocused eyes, he glanced down at the ragged slashes across his wrists, strangely satisfied with the thought that he was ruining his body, destroying this empty, tainted shell of his.

And there was a strange, distorted melody in his head, voices singing out of tune about hate and death and betrayal. Voices of the dead, buried deep beneath his body, calling him to them, reaching out with their decaying hands. The dead that still resided in his head, in his heart, unwilling to let him go, unable to let him go, for he was still clinging to them too tightly, because all he cared about was dead and gone. So was it really too much to ask to just want to vanish along with them?

Slowly, he felt his eyelids start to feel heavy, as his vision faded, until all he could see were dark blurs among blinding white light, as he entered a place where he didn't have to remember all the blood, and all the corpses littering the street, those pale, long-fingered hands touching him, needles piercing his skin and the wonderful silence of brightly colored oblivion, as well as the longing and craving that followed.

* * *

With one arm, she tried to shield her eyes from the rain. Once her bloodline limit was activated, every raindrop touching her eyelids felt like a small dagger stabbing her eye.

She had ran through the same damn forest for over half an hour, starting to feel like she was walking in circles, because everything just looked the same.

And now it had started to rain, as well, which meant that Kiba would have to stop his search, because every trace of scent was being erased.

A burning sensation in her eyes made her aware of the fact that she'd used the byakugan for too long.

She was just about to turn them off and give up, when suddenly, half a kilometer away, she spotted someone sitting on the forest ground, leaning heavily against a tree.

It was Uchiha Sasuke, undoubtedly. And he was injured.

Without thinking, she started to run, slipping and tripping, but managing to reach him within a minute.

Her throath scratched painfully and she drew cold air in through her mouth, which felt awfully dry.

She entered the clearing, feeling the rain soaking her within less than a few seconds. Shuddering, she walked left and saw the outlines of Sasuke's body.

She jerked to a halt, the moment she really noticed, what she was seeing.

Violent shivers ran through her body, and her trembling hand closed over her mouth, trying to stifle a scream, even though her vocal cords seemed to have frozen along with her body.

Without being able to tear her eyes away, without being able to move, she could only stare at something so horrible and beautiful at the same time.

He was sitting, his boneless form leaning against the tree for support. His head was lowered, so that she couldn't see his face, and his black hair was dripping wet, while his soaked shirt clung to his every muscle.

Deathly pale skin seemed to glisten in the rain, and for a moment, the pool of crimson red blood around him, seemed like the perfect contrast to his milky white skin.

She inched closer, feeling strangely out of place in a picture that displayed such utter perfection.

Leaning down, she observed his face curiously, delight flooding through her. He was simply beautiful, and his defenseless expression, only served to make him all the more appealing.

Her body moved closer to him, without her permission, and something within her wished to run her tongue over those pale, bluing lips. Her hands itched to move underneath the dark shirt to touch porcelain skin and feel strong muscles. And it made her feel almost nauseous to have such thoughts on her mind, while blood kept flowing out of the cuts on each of his wrists.

She brushed hair out of his face, before leaning down, pressing one ear against his warm chest. Her whole face burned red, and she wanted more than anything, to close her arms around his waist and embrace him, like the sad, little boy that he truly was within.

His heartbeat was weak, but it was still there, and it seemed like the most beautiful melody she had ever heard.

She touched one of his wrists, before letting chakra rush to her palms. Slowly, very slowly, the cut started to close, and she realized, as she sat above him, straddling his hips, that her lower legs were already soaked in his blood.

"D-on't." A dark voice ground out right next to her ear, and she noticed, that Sasuke's chin was resting on her shoulder, his shallow breathing feeling warm against her skin, tickling it gently.

"Please...just let me-." _die._ He didn't finish the sentence, but she knew. And his voice was very close to begging, and for some twisted reason, she felt accepted as a human being, as someone who had the power to change something, for the first time in her life. It brought tears to her eyes.

"Sasuke." She whispered comfortingly and instinctively hugged him closer. His eyes closed and his expression softened, when one of her hands found its way into his dark hair.

Her smell reminded him faintly of the times his mother had sat beside him, sipping tea, while they watched the sunset together.

Most of the times, he had fallen asleep with his head in her lap, while she stroked his hair softly.

And maybe, if he really tried, he could imagine the dark hair tickling his nose to be just a little darker and the shoulder, against which he was leaning a little less bony.

Slowly, he grew heavier in her arms, as his skin felt less and less warm against hers. Her eyes closed, as she listened to his shallow breathing, and tears streaked down her cheeks.

"I-...I'm...sorry." he gasped out, and neither she, nor he knew what he was apologizing for. Maybe for falling asleep instead of listening to his mother go on and on about his father being selfish and her work not being appreciated. Maybe for being too weak to save them, that night. Maybe for making Hinata witness this and relying on her.

"I know." She said softly, and somehow she did know. And a painful smile made the corners of her mouth twitch, when she heard him breathe out in relief.

A second later, his breathing stopped. She let him go and looked at his face closely.

"Forgive me, Sasuke." She murmured. Leaning down, she rolled up his sleeves and examined the cuts on his wrists closely, before letting the palm of her right hand rest on one of them, green chakra healing the wounds.

"I can't let you die."

* * *

**Nyehh...didn't particularily like this chapter...description isn't really all that good. What really frustrates me, is that this could be a true masterpiece, if I wrote it in German, but in English it's just way harder. Maybe I'll try to write each chapter in German and then translate it...**

**Anyways, thanks for waiting, and as promised, I updated earlier than last time.**

**Please read and review. And thanks for reading!  
**


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